It is known to ship caskets in box trucks and in trailers of tractor-trailer rigs. Box trucks are typically used to deliver caskets to funeral homes, whereas tractor-trailer rigs are typically used to deliver caskets to warehouse distribution facilities.
When shipping caskets in a box truck, the caskets are typically loaded horizontally and placed on shelves. During delivery the caskets are pushed/pulled from the shelves onto a lift system that allows the casket to be lowered and placed upon a rolling and vertically extendible/retractable cart known as a “church truck.” The church truck is supported on the pavement the same as the box truck. Consequently, the surface of the bed of the box truck can be several feet above the surface of the pavement.
When shipping caskets in trailers of tractor-trailer rigs, the caskets are typically loaded vertically, or “on end.” Loading the caskets vertically allows more caskets to be hauled in a given size trailer than if the caskets were loaded horizontally, which is of course desirable. Caskets transported in trailers of tractor-trailer rigs are typically unloaded at a loading dock. The surface of the loading dock is generally at the same height as the surface of the bed of the trailer, i.e. the surfaces are generally co-planar. The caskets are unloaded at docks with the use of a four wheeled device known as a “tip cart.” The tip cart has a base frame with four wheels, and a tip frame pivoted to one end of the base frame that pivots from horizontal to vertical. To unload a casket with the tip cart, the vertically oriented casket is moved to the edge of the trailer bed. The tip cart is rolled to the edge of the dock. The tip frame is manually pivoted from horizontal to vertical, the casket is secured to the tip frame, and the tip frame with casket secured thereto is manually pivoted from vertical to horizontal. The casket is then rolled on the tip cart. These devices allow the caskets to be safely moved out of trailers without damaging the caskets.
Previous attempts at utilizing vertical shipping of caskets in box trucks have not met with success. This is primarily due to the bed of the box truck being several feet above the surface of the pavement, which increases the risk of damage to the caskets and the safety risks to personnel during unloading of the caskets.
Accordingly, a casket loading and/or unloading apparatus and method which allows personnel to safely unload vertical caskets from a box truck without damaging the caskets is desirable.
For that matter, a casket loading and/or unloading apparatus and method which allows personnel to safely unload vertical caskets from any transport vehicle, where the surface of the bed of the vehicle is above the surface to which the casket is being unloaded to, without damaging the caskets, is also desirable. Such a transport vehicle could be the aforementioned box truck, but it could also be a trailer of a tractor-trailer rig, etc.